Bugle book review …
Morgan’s raids and much more about
Civil War Cynthiana, Harrison County

(KENTUCKY REBEL TOWN, by William A. Penn, 374 pages with endnotes, appendix, index, University of Kentucky Press 2016, cloth $45

By ED FORD
Bugle Editor

Author William Penn must be exhausted. His new book, Kentucky Rebel Town, is not only complete about John Hunt Morgan’s raids in Cynthiana, but is chock-full of sidebar items about people and places in the city and county who suffered through the pains of the Civil War.

Penn deserves an “A” for his research and another “A” for his skill in effectively pulling the story together. The reader must wonder how much patience and how many sleep-deprived nights were required to develop a book that provides an in-depth perspective of the human side of war.

In his introduction, the author notes that he attempted to explore the effects of the war on all segments of the civilian population. He accomplished that.

For example:

A Confederate captain who had set fire to downtown Cynthiana recalls receiving aid as he lay on the battlefield with a shattered leg. He explains that “a gentleman and five young ladies” gave him ice water and wine, learned his name and residence and the nature of his wound. One of the ladies gathered materials and used her cape to fashion a covering that shielded the sun from his face.

A short time later, a Union soldier gave him a canteen of water and, when a comrade came by, was asked if the Confederate “was dead yet?” When told the captain still was alive, the Union trooper offered to “finish him” and pointed his rifle at the wounded man’s head.

“If you do, you’ll be the next one to die,” the soldier providing aid replied.

Some accounts were humorous. Such as the occasion when a soldier decided to take a lady’s favorite horse. Julia Lee Ormes, who weighed nearly 300 pounds, threw her arms around the horse’s neck. She stood her ground and the outweighed soldier, after several unsuccessful attempts, gave up.

Cynthiana and Harrison County, located strategically along the Kentucky Central railroad, became a frequent target of several raids by Gen. Morgan. Penn provides a vivid account of the first and second battles at Cynthiana and other skirmishes that occurred. The region initially was pro-Southern, but control of the area shifted dramatically between Union and Confederate forces, finally culminating in the defeat and capture of Morgan’s raiders.

Penn’s dedicated research includes newspaper accounts, information from personal journals, memoirs and correspondence from citizens, slaves and soldiers. His collection of data provided some final conclusions about Morgan’s last Kentucky raid that ended disastrously in Cynthiana and Harrison County.

He reports that Morgan told his brother-in-law and second-in-command, Lt. Col. Basil Duke, that if his final raid had been victorious, he would have “achieved successes unparalleled in my entire career.” That triumph, he indicated, would have enabled the Confederacy to hold Kentucky for many months.

If you’re interested in Civil War history, Kentucky Rebel Town will be well worth your read.